Tennis shoes suspended in space
dangling from telephone wires
absolutely delighted deaf Jeannie.
It was as if some perfect stranger
had sent her an extra-terrestrial postcard
and she had fallen immediately in love.
I, her boyfriend, was put aside
to her rapture.
Try though I would, I could never make her laugh that way.
As we walked down the north side of the riverside
Ray said to me behind her back in sign language,
"She's beautiful!"
Coming from Ray that really meant something.
--Mac Crary